Princess Tekle (, ''t'ekle''; 1776 – 11 March 1846) was a

Georgian Georgian may refer to: Common meanings * Anything related to, or originating from Georgia (country) ** Georgians, an indigenous Caucasian ethnic group ** Georgian language, a Kartvelian language spoken by Georgians **Georgian scripts, three scrip ...

princess royal (''

batonishvili ''Batonishvili'' ( ka, ბატონიშვილი) (literally "a child of batoni (lord or sovereign)" in Georgian) is a title for royal princes and princesses who descend from the kings of Georgia from the Bagrationi dynasty and is suffixe ...

'') and poet. She was a daughter of Heraclius II, the penultimate king of Kartli and Kakheti, the wife of Prince Vakhtang Orbeliani, and mother of the Georgian literati,

Alexander Alexander is a male given name. The most prominent bearer of the name is Alexander the Great, the king of the Ancient Greek kingdom of Macedonia who created one of the largest empires in ancient history. Variants listed here are Aleksandar, Al ...

and Vakhtang Orbeliani.

Biography

Tekle was born in 1776 in the family of Heraclius II and his third wife

Darejan Dadiani Darejan Dadiani ( ka, დარეჯანი), also known as Daria (Georgian: ; russian: Дарья Георгиевна, Darya Georgyevna) (20 July 1738 – 8 November 1807), was List of Georgian consorts, Queen Consort of Kingdom of Kakheti, ...

. The king's favorite daughter, Tekle was nicknamed by Heraclius a "tomboy" (თეკლე-ბიჭი) for her forceful character. Unlike most of her siblings, Tekle avoided the deportation of the Georgian royal family effected by the

Russian Empire The Russian Empire was an empire and the final period of the Russian monarchy from 1721 to 1917, ruling across large parts of Eurasia. It succeeded the Tsardom of Russia following the Treaty of Nystad, which ended the Great Northern War. ...

following its annexation of Georgia in 1801. She was made Lady of the Russian

Order of St. Catherine The Imperial Order of Saint Catherine (russian: Императорский Орден Святой Екатерины) was an award of Imperial Russia. Instituted on 24 November 1714 by Peter the Great on the occasion of his marriage to Catherine ...

(Lesser Cross). The fate of Tekle's family reflected the ambiguous situation the Georgian nobility found themselves with the arrival of the Russian rule. Her husband, Prince Orbeliani, was killed fighting in the Russian ranks against the Georgian rebels in

Kakheti Kakheti ( ka, კახეთი ''K’akheti''; ) is a region (mkhare) formed in the 1990s in eastern Georgia from the historical province of Kakheti and the small, mountainous province of Tusheti. Telavi is its capital. The region comprises eigh ...

in 1812, while Tekle, like her sisters, Mariam and

Ketevan Ketevan ( ka, ქეთევანი) is a Georgian feminine given name. It is sometimes used as a Georgian form of Katherine but, in terms of their etymology, the two names aren't related as Katherine has origins in the Greek language while Ketev ...

, wrote poems imbued with elegy and laments for the lost Georgian kingdom. Among a handful of surviving poems is a reaction to her sister's despair, "In Response to Princess Ketevan" (პასუხად ქეთევან ბატონიშვილს). In 1832 Tekle's family in

Tiflis Tbilisi ( ; ka, თბილისი ), in some languages still known by its pre-1936 name Tiflis ( ), is the capital and the largest city of Georgia, lying on the banks of the Kura River with a population of approximately 1.5 million pe ...

became the meeting place of the Georgian nobles and intellectuals disaffected with the Russian overlordship. A planned coup aimed at restoring an independent Georgian monarchy was betrayed and the plotters were rounded up by the police. Tekle shared exile with her sons in

Kaluga Kaluga ( rus, Калу́га, p=kɐˈɫuɡə), a city and the administrative center of Kaluga Oblast in Russia, stands on the Oka River southwest of Moscow. Population: Kaluga's most famous resident, the space travel pioneer Konstantin Tsiol ...

, where she lived from 11 October 1834 to 6 May 1835. She was, thereafter, allowed to return to Tiflis, where she died in 1846. She was buried at the Cathedral of the Living Pillar in

Mtskheta Mtskheta ( ka, მცხეთა, tr ) is a city in Mtskheta-Mtianeti province of Georgia. It is one of the oldest cities in Georgia as well as one of the oldest continuously inhabited cities in the World. Itis located approximately north of T ...

Family

Tekle married on 7 September 1800 Prince Vakhtang Orbeliani (1769–1 March 1812), ''

mouravi Mouravi ( ka, მოურავი) was an administrative and military officer in early modern Georgia, translated into English as seneschal, bailiff, or constable. A mouravi was an appointed royal official who had a jurisdiction over particular t ...

'' of

Sagarejo Sagarejo ( ka, საგარეჯო) is a town in Kakheti, Georgia. It is situated east of Georgia's capital, Tbilisi, and has the population of 10,871 (2014 census). It serves as an administrative center of the Sagarejo district. The town is ...

and colonel in the Russian service. They had four sons: *

(3 May 1801 – 9 December 1869) * Nikoloz (born 1803) * Dimitri (1806–1882) * Vakhtang (5 April 1812 – 29 September 1890)

Ancestry

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Tekle, Princess of Georgia 1776 births 1846 deaths Tekle 19th-century poets from Georgia (country) 18th-century people from Georgia (country) 19th-century people from Georgia (country) Tekle Women poets from Georgia (country) 19th-century women writers from Georgia (country) 19th-century writers from Georgia (country)